AP Psychology Unit 0

The scientific study of the mind and behavior

Psychology

The tendency to favor information that confirms existing beliefs

Confirmation bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to be more confident than correct-to overestimate the accuracy of ones beliefs and judgements

Overconfidence

Information acquired by observation or experimentation

Empirical evidence

A systematic approach to research where a problem is identified, relevant data is gathered, a hypothesis is formulated from these data, and the hypothesis is empirically tested

Scientific method

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory

Hypothesis

Capable of being disproved by experimental results

Flasifiable

A process by which something proposed (as for research of publication) is evaluated by a group of experts in the appropriate field

Peer review

The action of repeating a study, using the same methods to see if the original results can be consistently reproduced

Replication

The consistency of a research study or measuring test

Reliability

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what is is supposed to do

Validity

A professional organization representing psychologists in the United States

The American Psychological Association (APA)

Information about quantities; that is, information that can be measured and written down with numbers

Quantitative Data

Descriptive information, which often comes from interviews, focus groups or artistic depictions such as photographs

Qualitative Data

A psychometric scale commonly used in questionnaires, and is the most widely used scale in survey research

Likert Scales

A quantitative research method where the interviewer asks a set of sequence of questions

Structured interviews

A research technique that involves the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions

Survey Technique

The effect that question phrasing and order have on survey data

Wording effect

A tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself

Social Desirability Bias

Observing subjects in their natural environment without manipulation or control by the researcher

Naturalistic Observation

An in depth study of a single person, group, event or community

Case Study

A type of nonexperimental research method, which studies the relationship between two variables with the help of statistical analysis

Correlation Research

A form of confounding in which a third variable leads to a mistaken casual relationship between two others

Third Variable Problem

A graphical representation of the values of two variables for a set of data

Scatterplot

Is correlation causation?

No

What do correlations do

Predict

A statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1)

Correlation coefficient

A relationship between two variables in which both variables move in the same direction. As one variable increases, the other also increases, indicating a direct relationship

Positive correlation

A relationship between two variables in which the variables move in opposite directions. As one variable increases, the other decreases, indicating inverse relationship

Negative correlation

A method of research where the researcher manipulates one variable, and controls/randomizes the rest of the variables

Experimental method

The variable that is manipulated or controlled by the researcher

Independent Variable

The variable that is tested and measured in an experiment

Dependent variable

A variable that influences both the dependent variable and independent variable causing a spurious association

Confounding variable

Specifically defining a variable in terms of how it is measured or manipulated in a study

Operational Definitions

The group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested

Experimental group

The group in an experiment that does not receive the test variable

Control Group

A condition in which treatment is not administered but the subject believes that it is administered

Placebo condition

A bias that occurs when a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended population are less likely to be included than others

Sample bias

Statistics that allow one to make predictions and inferences about a population based on a sample of data

Inferential statistics

A statistical measure that identifies a single value as representative of an entire distribution

Measure of Central Tendency

The average of a set of numerical values

Mean

The middle value in a list of numbers

Median

The value that appears most often in a set of data

Mode

Difference between the highest and lowest values in a data set

Range

A bell shaped curve that represents a distribution of values, frequencies, or probabilities so that most measurements are concentrated around the middle

Normal Curve

The phenomenon that if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on its second measurement

Regression to the mean

This happens when more numbers in a list are on the lower side, but a few really high numbers stretch the average higher

Positive Skew

When more numbers in a list are on the higher side, but a few really low numbers pull the average down

Negative skew

A measure of the amount of variation or dispersion in a set of values

Standard Deviation

The percentage of distribution that are equal to or lower than it

Percentile Rank

A distribution that shows two different peaks or modes in the frequency at once

Bimodal distribution

Tells us if the result of an experiment is probably true or just happened by chace

Statistical significance

A statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies

Meta Analysis

Committee that reviews and approves research involving human subjects, ensuring ethical standards are met

Institutional Review Boards (IRB)

Providing participants in a study with a full explanation of the study after its completion, including the purpose and any deceptions used

Debriefing